While Facebook can make us feel connected and socially happy, at times it can put us down and take a toll on our well-being.

If you're an active Facebooker, you may be engaging in self-destructive behavior without even realizing it. By identifying what causes these negative feelings, you can battle this virtual self-harm to stay happy and have a better social network experience.

Here's a list of the 12 most self-destructive things we can do on Facebook.

The Most Self-Destructive Things You Can Do on Facebook

1. Browsing old photos and messages that involve your ex.

Thanks to Facebook albums and saved messages, you can easily take a trip down memory lane to nostalgically ponder what you once had. You'll quickly come to realize that going through the digital remains of your failed relationships isn't so beneficial.

Discipline yourself to not wallow in the past, or better yet, delete the evidence to move on permanently. You wouldn't want your future prospect to look at those photos anyway.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

2. Stalking your ex's new significant other.

Anyone who says he hasn't stalked his ex's new partner's profile is lying. However, keeping tabs on your former flame is dangerous. A study shows that Facebook stalking your ex after a breakup can delay emotional recovery and personal growth.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

3. Counting how many birthday wall posts you received.

It's that exciting time of year when notifications flood your Facebook. But the downfall is that many people tend to associate the number of birthday greetings with how popular they are. If you find yourself comparing the numbers of birthday posts on your wall over the years or counting them the day after your birthday, stop. You shouldn't evaluate the quality of your birthday and social life by these posts.

Image: Facebook screenshot Tarn Susumpow

4. Reading your old statuses.

That awkward moment when you read your old status and ask yourself, "What was I thinking?" Whether it was using a ton of exclamation points, tAlKiN LyK dIs b4 U kNeW iT l00ked dUmB or ending every status with "text me," you'll be glad to know you weren't alone.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

5. Back-stalking old tagged photos of yourself.

You're Facebook surfing and happen to stumble upon an old photo of yourself, otherwise known as a less attractive version of yourself. You begin to search actively for more photos, and then wonder why you loved Abercrombie so much and realize how ridiculous the duck face really looks. Save yourself the embarrassment by untagging these kinds of photos.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

6. Looking at photos of everyone hanging out without you.

Your News Feed won't hold back from letting you know five of your friends are tagged together in a photo. Then, it hits you as you're curled up on your couch: Everyone is hanging out without you. Save yourself the unnecessary FOMO -- hide these photos from your feed or disconnect.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

7. Posting during important events when you shouldn't be on Facebook.

If you're giving social media play-by-plays -- uploading photos while in labor, during graduations or while you're on your honeymoon -- rethink the way you use Facebook. Sometimes bombarding your friends' stream with posts can come off as annoying, and there's a fine line of what should be kept private and what should be shared with your Facebook community.

If you're going to creep on someone, try to make it less obvious. Adding a friend unintentionally sends the message you were (most likely) stalking her Timeline. You can cancel the request, but she'll still receive an email if she signed up for email notifications.

After that happens, crawl into a hole and stay there.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

9. Posting a bad photo of a friend and being on her bad side for a week.

We've all committed our owns act of "photo sabotage," in which we upload unflattering photos of our friends. Losing a friend because of an unattractive photo you posted of him or her isn't worth it. After all, you wouldn't want anyone to post a bad photo of you.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

10. Posting sad statuses as cries for attention.

If you're sad, you are sad. Let's be honest, people don't want to hear your problems via Facebook. And if nobody "likes" the status or comments, you'll most likely feel even worse, and more insecure.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

11. Accidently tagging someone you haven't talked to in years.

We've all done it. As soon as this happens, click "Edit" on your photo and click the "X" next to the person's name you want to untag. Then, try not to feel too embarrassed.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

12. Posting a status in a time of frustration, and regretting it after you've calmed down.

We're all capable of going on emotional tirades when we're frustrated, and some of us can't hold back on Facebook. In the heat of the moment, you may post something you regret or feel like an idiot for later. Passive-aggressive quotes, misspelled words and snarky comments all fall into this category. Next time, think before you post, and use your common sense.

Image: Facebook screenshot Kyli Singh

BONUS: 10 Cool Facebook Status Tips and Tricks

10 Cool Facebook Status Tips and Tricks

1. HOW TO: Add a Dislike Option to Your Status Update

"Like" buttons are everywhere on Facebook, and they're everywhere on the web. But what if you want to update your status or share something that your friends can "dislike?" We know, your friends can choose to "comment" on your post, but where's the fun in that?

The clever Status Magic Facebook app can add a dislike button to any status updates posted via the app. And if you wanted to really mix it up you can actually customize the second emotion to anything, such as "love," "hate," "disagree" or even "LOLs."

2. HOW TO: Hide Status Updates From Certain People

Using Facebook's general privacy settings (find these by hitting "account" on the top right of a Facebook page) you can select whether everyone, just friends or friends of friends can see your status updates. However, there is a way to narrow those options down even further.

You can select specific friend lists to see your status (relevant for work, special interest groups, etc.) or even individual people by name, which is useful for anyone organizing a surprise party.

To take advantage of these options, click the padlock icon just below your "what's on your mind" box on your wall and a drop down menu should appear. Selecting "customize" will bring up more options such as "make this visible to" and "hide from" with the option to make your selection a default.

3. HOW TO: Pre-Schedule Status Updates

While SocialOomph, Sendible and HootSuite offer the same kind of service, the simplest way to schedule Facebook status updates is by using the easy, free Later Bro service.

Just sign in with Facebook Connect, select your time zone, type in what it is you'd like to say, set the calendar and clock to when you'd like to say it, and presto!

4. HOW TO: Tag People in Your Status Updates

This was quite a big deal when it was announced this past September, but from the amount of searches on the topic "how can I make someone's name go blue in a Facebook status?" it seems it's not universally known.

To mention someone in a status update just type "@" (a la Twitter) in the status bar and start typing their name as it appears on Facebook. An auto-generated list will then come up with people in your social circle whose name starts with the letters you've typed. The feature also works with pages, brands, events and companies.

Hit the name you want, complete the update, click share and the name will become a hyperlink (you won't see the @ symbol) and will appear in blue text.

5. HOW TO: Add Symbols to Your Facebook Status

Although there are plenty of emoticons that work with Facebook Chat, typing ":)" into Facebook's status bar will not magically transform into a smiley yellow face. In fact, the only symbol you can create in a Facebook status update through the shortcut keys is a ♥, by typing "While this won't bother many Facebook users, others more used to punctuating their missives can copy and paste web-happy, universal symbols into the box, as you can see in the screengrab above.

PC users can also access some symbols by hitting "alt" + various number combinations (on a numerical keypad). So, while smileys are yet to hit Facebook statuses, you can annoy or amuse your buddies with symbols right now.

6. HOW TO: Turn Your Status Updates Into a Word Cloud

There's a really fun way to visualize anyone's status updates (even an entire country's) as a word cloud. The Status Analyzer 3D app will look at what it is you've been chatting about lately and generate a list, and then a pretty, colorful, animated cloud as pictured above.

You can share the results with others on the social networking site by posting it to your friends' walls or by adding it to your profile.

7. HOW TO: Have Fun With Facebook's Humorous Language Options

While you can always change your setting into more sensible alternative languages, the site offers a couple of fun linguistic Easter eggs.

You can chose to have Facebook display upside down English, or, for anyone feeling a little salty, in "pirate." Pirate essentially turns your status into your "plank," your attachments into "loot" and instead of "share" it offers the option to "blabber t' yer mates."

Sadly, anything you type in the status bar won't be upside down, or pirate-y. But with the use of some external sites you can achieve the same effect.

8. HOW TO: See Status Updates From Around the World

If you want to get a glimpse of the thoughts of Facebook users from around the world's, head over to OpenBook.

Created by three San Fran web developers with a serious privacy message in mind, the site aggregates the status updates of everyone whose privacy levels are set to "everyone."

You can narrow your searchable results down by gender and keywords to find out what people are saying about a certain topic. Or you can just browse the recent searches.

9. HOW TO: See Your Status Update Stats

Have you ever wondered how many times you have updated your status on Facebook? The Facebook app Status Statistics, can tell you this and more.

The app analyzes your updates and gives you a tidy list of how many you've written, the average word count and how many times a day you post. In addition, it generates a graph that shows you what time of day or what days of the week you normally update.

Old statuses are also searchable via the app, so you can find that witty retort you made back in November 2009 without having to scroll back through your history.

10. HOW TO: Play a Trick On Your Friends in Your Status Update

We have a funny one to end on -- a way to play an amusing trick on your Facebook buddies.

This clever link "http://facebook.com/profile.php?=73322363" looks like it could be a URL for anyone's Facebook profile, actually takes anyone logged into Facebook to their own profile page.

If you try it out, be sure to remove the link preview that Facebook auto-ads. Have fun, and don't be too mean...

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